1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat sliding apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, various types of vehicle seat sliding apparatuses are proposed (for example, JP-A-2005-8065, JP-A-2006-298104). These apparatuses each include a lower rail and an upper rail connected to the lower rail so as to be movable with respect to the lower rail. The vehicle seat sliding apparatus described, for example, in JP-A-2005-8065 includes a leg bracket attached to a lower surface of the rear portion of the lower rail with a screw and a leg cover fixed to a peripheral edge portion of the leg bracket. Therefore, the rear end portion of the lower rail is covered with the leg bracket and the leg cover (hereinafter, referred to also as “protector” for convenience).
In the vehicle seat sliding apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2005-8065, the rear end portion of the lower rail is covered with two components (the leg bracket and the leg cover) and a process to tighten the leg bracket is required, so that increase in number of components and in number of manufacturing steps is inevitable. Therefore, mounting a single piece of protector on the rear end portion of the lower rail and covering the same is studied by the present applicant. In this case, since the protector is supposed to come off easily if it is simply mounted on the rear end portion of the lower rail, it is preferable to provide an adequate locking device between the lower rail and the protector. For example, a locking hole is formed on the lower rail and a locking claw which can be fitted into the locking hole is formed on the protector. Accordingly, by fitting the locking claw in the locking hole when mounting the protector on the rear end portion of the lower rail, the protector can be prevented from coming apart.
However, since a process work to form the locking hole specific for preventing the protector from coming apart at least on the lower rail is necessary, increase in number of steps in the process work is inevitable correspondingly.